


Prologue

by problematicfave



Series: Laguz AU [1]
Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: Gen, laguz au, mention of poaching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-11
Updated: 2015-09-11
Packaged: 2018-04-20 05:07:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4774730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/problematicfave/pseuds/problematicfave
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Part one of a series of AU oneshots based loosely around the concept of Laguz from FE9 and 10. This first one is mainly just a prologue to set explain some things and set the scene.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Prologue

Living in this world alongside humans are those known as Laguz, people with humanoid forms who can shift into animals for a limited period of time; even when in human form these Laguz are easily recognizable by certain animal like physical traits they retain, such as tails, wings and ears. Some humans view them as inferior due to their animalistic traits, others see them as superior because of their natural abilities; and then there are those who quite frankly couldn’t care less. 

However despite the conflicting opinions towards them, many Laguz had risen to become influential and successful individuals, among these are Bruce Wayne and his seemingly ever growing family.

* * *

As one of the most famous and well liked personages in Gotham, Bruce Wayne often found himself the center of the media’s attention, at times it was incredibly annoying, however it could also be very useful. He’d been able to build up the persona of ‘Brucie Wayne’ the playboy billionaire, a man who no one would ever suspect was really Batman, thanks to their attentions. It was perhaps an unnecessary precaution, most of Gotham seemed to assume that someone who called themselves ‘Batman’ must be a bat Laguz, the prospect that it could be a wolf like him never even seemed to cross their minds. Still, it was better to be safe than sorry and so he dutifully stood in the spotlight and manipulated the media to believe of him what he wanted.

When it came to his children though, Bruce’s approach towards the media was totally different. He did his best to keep them out of the limelight so they could lead more normal lives, or at least as normal a life as anyone who moonlighted as a vigilante could lead, a not have to deal with the press always hounding them. It didn’t always work of course, his children were almost as, if not just as, popular as he was and often found themselves hounded by one reporter or another. 

Upon revealing the existence of his son Damian to the public though, he found the that the difficulty of keeping his children’s lives private had increased tenfold. The fact that Damian was his blood son meant that the boy garnered enough attention as was, however it was Damian’s wings that caused the real problem.

While Damian had inherited several things from his father, such as his chin, teeth that were slightly sharper than usual and most notably, his stubbornness; the wings on his back were all Al Ghul. Size wise, there was nothing unusual about them, when fully spread they reached just farther than his outspread arms would; his feathers though… They were a vibrant red that gradually turned to orange as you went farther down the wing; at the very bottom of the wing though they were charcoal black, as if someone had taken a flame and scorched them.

The sight of them had caused quite a stir among the people of Gotham, very few had ever seen wings quite so unique and as a result there was rampant speculation as to who his mother could be. The Wayne family kept their mouths shut however, merely stating that she wished to remain unknown; they could hardly tell the truth after all.

For his part, Damian seemed to find to find the whole thing rather tedious and annoying; he didn’t mind being the center of attention, so long as it was on his terms, but he found the nosiness of people to be detestable. Quite frankly it was was fortunate that Damian was confined to the mansion for the most part, as it was doubtful he would react well to being cornered and interrogated by journalists.

Damian’s most common reaction to uncomfortable or unfamiliar situations, was violence; that was something Bruce had learned pretty quickly. Considering the boy’s upbringing so far, it wasn’t too surprising, but it was a habit that Bruce hoped he’d be able to break him of. So far there had been little progress, hence the reason for the boys confinement to the manor. 

Of course there was another reason for keeping the boy so secluded, it was an unfortunate fact that there were people in the world who felt no guilt in capturing Laguz for their wings, tails or other parts; and given the unique appearance of Damian’s wings, there was no doubt he would be an ideal target for them. He’d seen far too many Laguz, many of them very young, fall prey to such poachers; the lucky ones ended up dying whiles those who were less fortunate lived, but spent the rest of their lives in terrible pain. He wanted nothing like that to ever happen to his son.

Once the boy had settled down some and proven he could be trusted to follow orders, there wouldn’t be as much need to worry about him getting into situations where he could get hurt, and then Damian’s seclusion would end. It was something that Bruce was quite looking forward to, truth be told; to be able to show his own son around the city he loved and hopefully instill that same love for it into him, it was a pleasant prospect.

Unfortunately he would never get the chance to do so as he seemingly died on a Justice League mission before it could happen, leaving Dick Grayson to pick up the mantle of Batman and guardianship over Damian.


End file.
